The census results are about to be released, but not the most recent census.
Grace Dumelle, of Chicago's Newberry Library, said the details from the 1950 U.S. Census are finally being released this Friday following something called the "72-year rule."
"They release the statistics right away," Dumelle told WBBM over a Zoom call, "for instance in the 2020 Census they release the population statistics so that the states get the proper number of U.S. representatives. But the personal data that is collected...there is a lot of sensitive questions. For example, how much is your house worth? How much rent do you pay? Other questions they asked in the past were things like, for women, how many children have you given birth to and how many are still alive?"
Dumelle said the 1950 Census will paint a picture of a much different America.
"You're going to see wealthy households with live-in servants, how much do we have that anymore? You're going to see farm families with farmhands living there on the farm. Widows who are taking in boarders or lodgers. You're going to see something different back then," Dumelle said.
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And the Newberry will be available to help people navigate through the online census results from the National Archives.
"We can show you how to use those online tools to translate that address to a location on the census," she said.
All told, the results should be an interesting trip down memory lane.
"So you can find your family members and don't forget you can also play around and look for famous people in the Census. Look for Elvis in 1950. Look for Harry Truman at the White House. Look for some movie star. So that's fun, too," Dumelle said.